My question is for you who have done this before , whats the best way to do it ?

Just start the staples off with a hammer and the squeeze together in a vice and repeat for other side . With the joining pin do i cut of flush or do i just bend the edges up slightly to stop sliding out ?

Oh my god did I have some trouble with this on the Kohler's flat fan belt!

It's easier on the bigger belts Matt, the Kohler was a 1" belt & the thickness was between the 2 main sizes for the Alligator Lacing clips.

Ideally it should be done with a hammer, make sure the belt ends are cut dead square & very neatly. The pin should be cut off flush, as the belt tension will hold it in place. I sometimes bash the very end of the pin to try & bell it out a bit, but it doesn't work very well & it's easy to bend it.

Make sure the pin is in there while you are hammering the clips down, or it probably won't go in there afterwards.

Have a play about Matt, but if you feel yourself getting annoyed with it, then walk away & come back later.

I used a whole strip of the clip just to join a 1" belt! I had it OK a couple of times, but decided it wasn't quite good enough & I just had to mess with it, didn't I?!

Anyway, I think I was using the wrong clips for that particular belt. You'll probably have no trouble with this. I did a 4" belt way back when I was a teenager, & I got that one right first time!

cheers nuts, I have done simular type of joiner but it's on round bailer belts and had a die that goes into the vice and the joiner went into the die. and belt into it, you tightened vice to crimp all together, with a punch put it in a series of holes and hit twice per hole with a hammer. this peened over the pins. but was a different type of joiner.

I can't see what joiner you have Matt as you've posted the belt link twice. If it's the alligator type then you should have an oval ridged joining pin and a steel gauge rod with a bend at the end. What you do is make sure the end of the belt is cut square and cut the joiner to the required size, then but the rod up to the end of the belt and place the joiner over the rod/belt tight up against it. You want to have the underside of the joiner on a metal surface, you can then tap it with a hammer so the teeth of the joiner bite into the belt. Repeat this on the other side taking care to make sure the gauge rod is square with the end of the belt. What you then need to do is cut one piece of the ridged joining pin to the size and cut another piece so the ridges are offset. You can then drive the pins into the joiner, you may need to tidy up the ends with a file to prevent snagging.Hope this helps, Dan